When this album came out I was a full-scale Nirvana-fanatic. When Kurt died I was also in a full-scale depression that lasted for years (not because of him, just in conjunction with the whole event), so this album infected my blood and brain cells and kept me going through some dark times. The sound of the drums is incredible and the playing is so fuckin out of control that I consider it a true masterpiece from every angle. Even the artwork is nuts. This album is untouchable.
Again, this is in order of how these songs affected me, not necessarily the order in which I think they rank as songs. Nirvana is one of the few bands I can do this for and I feel like huge Nirvana fans can appreciate that.
- tourette’s — AKA the “Endless, Nameless” or “Downer” of In Utero. The band goes so hard into a place I didn’t expect that it blew my mind. I wore this track out as a kid. It also pushed me straight into hardcore as my favorite genre of music because that was the only thing I could find that was remotely close to this song.
- France Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle — I swear to god I feel like this song kept me alive when I was in the worst headspaces. “I miss the comfort in being sad” was like a security blanket during those years.
- Milk It — The little “crawling bugs” sound of the guitar with the HUGE echoing heartbeat kick drum sound that goes straight into HEAVY was like…OH MY GOD YES. And then they do it with Kurt screaming over it and Dave KILLING the drums. This was the song my wife asked me to play for her when she gave birth the first time haha.
- Radio Friendly Unit Shifter — The feedback into the stick clicks into the driving drumbeat that just goes into an intensely pulsating assault is soooo good. And I love how low Kurt sings right off the bat. The energy in this song is incredible.
- All Apologies — My love for Nirvana has a lot to do with the songwriting, but also with how they treat “LOUD.” Unplugged is my least favorite collection of Nirvana songs because my favorite part of Nirvana is the LOUD. I always forget how great this version of All Apologies is because the unplugged version was everywhere for so long. The real version of this song is incredible.
- Scentless Apprentice — I play this drum beat every single day of my life whether I’m sitting at the dinner table or behind a drum set. Without fail.
- Rape Me — This is the weakest song on In Utero in my opinion (and kind of derivative of their own shit like Smells Like Teen Spirit or Aneurysm), but it gets boosted all the way up to #7 SOLELY because of the chainsaw slide that Kurt does at 2:00. The only way to describe it is FUCKING SICK.
- Dumb — The first 3 seconds of this song sounds like it fills my ears with every sound they could ever want to hear all at once. I can’t explain it any better than that. Sonically this song might be perfect.
- Very Ape — I L O V E this song and I love how different it is for Nirvana. The only reason it’s lower on THIS list is because I don’t have a super strong emotional connection to it like I do the others.
- Serve the Servants — Dave from 3:25 to 3:27. THAT’S MY WHOLE SOUL IN 2 SECONDS OF DRUMMING
- Heart Shaped Box — The “Smells Like Teen Spirit” of In Utero. I love this song, but I’ve just heard it so many times at this point that some of the other songs give me more of an emotional experience than this one does.
- Pennyroyal Tea — Great song, but the others just do so much more for me. I appreciate how emotionally exhausting it is though and that will always mean a lot to me.
